unmolested vet bringbacks

I had two uncles on this side in the war,(more on the other side), one brought a smashed stock bcd (still looking for a bcd stock) home the other a pistol (which his son has and I hope to have it someday since he has no kids). Two other friends bought back pistols. So a 3 to 1 ratio. Plus captured would likely mostly apply to pistols since a GI could just tuck it in his belt he would not carry a k98 with him thru rest of the war. My uncle did capture his pistol the other uncle picked up his k98 from somewhere since he was Air Corp. I would think pistols might be more plentiful if not for the imports.

There seems compelling evidence that much of what we collect came into the States after WW2. I found this thread on another site that makes calling some item a " Vet bring back" without absolutely unimpeachable proof a real stretch. Who knows how many were mint, matching guns?

http://ww2weaponsforum.com/showthread.php?540-THE-OLD-DAYS

basile said:

There seems compelling evidence that much of what we collect came into the States after WW2. I found this thread on another site that makes calling some item a " Vet bring back" without absolutely unimpeachable proof a real stretch. Who knows how many were mint, matching guns?

http://ww2weaponsforum.com/showthread.php?540-THE-OLD-DAYS

Click to expand...

i agree with bigdibbs88. we'll never know how many were brought back by vets or imported after the war. the only k98 shown in this ad is for a boltless one.

Zero Bring Backs

My father was a Ordanance instructor and never went over seas. His two brothers were in ETO, but didn't bring back anything. My mother had four brothers out of eight in WW11. As far as I know one brought a couple of type 30 Japanese bayonets and thats all. I had one brother in law that was in the USMC. He brought home a couple of K-Bars, some Japanese money and a Japanese 37MM shell. So out of eight vets not one firearm. I have talked to a few that did bring home a few firearms. But no family did and these were all farm boys too.

When I was a kid the area I lived in had three large military surplus stores. Their firearms display case was full of WWII surplus handguns of all types. I remember Lugers and snail drum magazines. On the public walking floor they had racks of military rifles from many countries including Mausers. There were large pans of surplus ammo of all calibers. Alot of it in the original packing or span cans. I remember buying GI steel case WWII .45 Cal ammo for two cents a round.

Most people buying the surplus rifles planned on turning them into sporters.

Very intersting tread.

My grandfather brought back a luger and his 45 (not sure how they were allowed to keep GI property).

He died when I was 5 so neve got to talk to him but he didn't talk to anyone really. He had the handguns plugged right after the war. My dad (Son in law) told me that he expressed his regret for having plugged the guns later in life. I'm also told that the guns were all beat up because my uncle used them to play war.

Beat up, plugged, probably worthless I'm still hoping to get my hands on them.

I'm pretty sure that the guys bringing this stuff back never thought it would be worth what it is today.

This doesnt relate to mausers, but its on the topic of bringbacks

My Grandmother was an Army nurse with the rank of 1st Lieutenant. She was stationed on the island of Tinian to prepare to recieve wounded from the invasion of mainland Japan. She was stationed the same time the Enola Gay was stationed there and personally took a snapshot of the B29 sitting on the tarmac either the day after its Hiroshima mission or a few days/weeks later after...when it wasnt soo top secret anymore. Anyways, she was then sent to Japan for occupation duty...I believe she spent a year there. When occupation duty was over and it was time to go home, at a dock somewhat close to the Kokura factory, her and fellow nurses picked up a last ditch T99 Arisaka and bayonet before boarding the ship. She remembers there was barrels full of rifles and barrels full of bayonets...she also remembers the Marines laughing at the sight of Army nurses "Armed to the teeth" with rifles and bayonets while boarding the ship. I believe she and her nurses picked up rifles and bayonets that were going to be later dumped in the harbor or ocean. The rifle she picked up was concentric circle marked last ditch T99 made by Kokura. After some research her rifle was one of the last 200 something rifles made during the war. No capture papers unfortunately..and the rifle she walked on the ship with is the rifle she walked off with.

My Grandfather was a B24 pilot. He was ordered to pick up a brand new B24 and crew at a field in northern California before heading over to the pacific for combat. When he was there he was issued a brand new .45 in the box even though he was already carrying one...somehow he ended up with two. Fortunately the war ended when he was sationed at that field. He told us when it came time to turn in all the gear, there was piles of .45s and he threw both of them in. Till this day he thinks he couldve walked off base with those two .45s and nobody wouldve noticed or cared. He kinda wishes he kept them because he realizes how much money theyre worth now but back then there was soo many of them nobody gave it a thought.

ac4142 said:

i agree with bigdibbs88. we'll never know how many were brought back by vets or imported after the war. the only k98 shown in this ad is for a boltless one.

Click to expand...

Gee, this doesn't look like an ad for bolt less K98k rifles does it. Other "vet bring backs"

basile said:

Gee, this doesn't look like an ad for bolt less K98k rifles does it. Other "vet bring backs"

Click to expand...

I grew up during that time period and saw first hand the flood of WWII firearms pouring into the country and being sold everywhere from hardware stores, mail order suppliers etc. In my opinion that is where most of the "vet bring backs" being sold today come from. I still have stuff I bought during that time period and if I put in on GB I'm sure the potential buyers would be thinking "Vet bring back" with out me even saying one word.

Three out of four of my relatives survived the war, and none of them brought back any weapons. One of my great-uncles was wounded a number of times, and I remember him saying that every time he went into a hospital, his souvenirs would get stolen. All he came home with was a German belt buckle which he was wearing the last time he was hit. He gave it to me when I was a kid. He had a Luger that he got the hard way, but sold it to another GI soon afterwards. I think that some trophy guns, like the Luger, were selling for more during the war than after because at that point in time they were not easy to get unless you were on the front lines, and a lot of rear echelon guys wanted them. Judging by those surplus ads from the 50’s, it sure does seem as if a lot of what we see today was bought after the war.

I do not want to rain on someone's parade, but, barring legitimate capture papers or a "duffel cut", the odds are your prized possession came ashore as nothing more than cheap military surplus. The world's armies were going to semi or select fire weapons after WW2. There were mountains of obsolete small arms sitting in warehouses all over the world. Wholesalers were buying guns by the pound and dumping them here in America for pennies on the dollar compared to a commercial firearms. Every gun magazine in the 1950s- 1968 carried articles on how to sporter that cheap gun you just bought mail order for a little money and $3.00 shipping right to your door, no FFL required. Every hardware store. in every small town in America, had barrels crammed full of surplus rifles and bayonets.

not unmolested

Got these 3 rifles at an auction a few months ago. There were several other rifles in the auction that were also deactivated in various different ways including g41 & g/k43s. The ones I got seem to be matching, except for the non byf non zf41 stock on the byf 44 zf4. Which still has matching bands and handguard. The depot XXI and the garand seem to be as used in ww2. Why buy rifles to deactivate? Of course I don't know why deactivate at all. Local museum has mp44s jap sniper and others hanging from the ceiling that were donated. Seems more likely to be bring backs than rifles that were bought to me. JL

Lot's of museums deactivate firearms. The local VFW and American Legion often had deactivated guns [ for obvious reasons] on display in the bar areas, back when most members were WW2 vets. I bought my dewat Panzer Schreck out of a dilapidated VFW a few years ago. It was filthy, having hung on the wall at least since the 1950s.